remembrance
by Shane'Phantom'Riley141
Summary: its remembrance day and ghost has to deliver a speech, but it causes him to rethink his existence (sorry i suck at summaries)


disclaimer: i don't own anything

They gathered under the cold Atlantic sun. Soldiers stood in formation, wearing full dress uniform, around a simple monument engraved with the names of the fallen. They were gathered at the cenotaph war memorial in Manchester, remembering the fallen comrades and those who died in previous conflicts. The hushed murmurs of the crowd fell silent as the commanding officer Captain John MacTavish, stepped up to the microphone.

"We gather here today to honor and remember those who have given their lives in recent and past conflicts. These past few years in particular we remember those in Special Forces who have died in the war against the Ultra-nationalists and Vladimir Makarov, defending Britain and America from these threats".

Soap looked around at those who were assembles in ranks of three. He made eye contact with Ghost, who was missing his mask and glasses, icy blue eyes staring back at him with tears in the corner of them. He stared momentarily at the new scars that marled the younger man's face, put there after Shepard had burned both Ghost and Roach alive, after betraying them. Soap carried on.

"All of us here today honor those men and women by wearing the poppy, a symbol of remembrance, and the hope that the memory of the world wars and other conflicts will prevent their repeat. The glorious dead, we salute you!" Soap finished, saluting the memorial with the rest of the soldiers.

The next speaker was Ghost, so he fell out of parade and marched up to the microphone, saluting Soap as he passed him. "Remembrance Sunday is the closest Sunday to the moment when the guns fell silent at the end of World War 1 in 1918 on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Today we remember those who have fallen, those who gave up their lives so we could live ours, but the conflicts don't stop. As you know we have been at war with the Ultra nationalists for 3 years. I myself have participated in that war. I'm not proud of the lives I have ended, but I am proud to remember those who sacrificed themselves, saving me, my comrades and our country. I want people to remember those that were prisoners of war and died waiting to be rescued. I know what it's like to be a prisoner of war, as I experienced it, during a war that wasn't Britain's war to fight, a war most of you won't have heard about, because it was classified. War is a horrible thing. It takes lives, causes destruction and devastation. So we remember those who have sacrificed and paid the ultimate price for it. War changes men, it molds them into killing machines, they don't think when they kill, and they don't appear to be affected by it, but after they retire or the war has ended, they suffer greatly. Ladies and gentlemen, please remember what we, soldiers have sacrificed, given and suffered for you to live peaceful lives." Ghost finished. He had tears in his eyes as he also saluted the memorial.

By this time it was five minutes to eleven and a group of young army cadets marched on stage, bugles in hand and started to play The Last Post. When the cadets finished, the clock stuck eleven and the whole nation fell silent, in remembrance of the men and women who have fallen.

Ghost couldn't help but let a few tears fall down his pale skin as he remembered Meat, Ozone, Scarecrow, and many more comrades who have fallen. He remembered the pain war had caused him, the things it took away from him and others.

Roach also couldn't help but let tears fall down his scared face, he looked over to Ghost to see him crying too. He thought back to a time when he, like any other school boy, paid polite respect to these dead soldiers and felt distance sadness for the wars that had taken those lives. It was a time when he knew the terrible aftermath of wars, felt remorse for it, but hadn't really. He truly felt bad about the wars, but he didn't really understand because it never affected him directly. After the whole ceremony of remembrance, he carried on with life, forgetting about it until the next year. How different things were now. After becoming a Special Forces soldier and working as part of Taskforce 141, Roach didn't think he'd ever feel that same faraway sadness that wasn't much more than a small wisp of regret for the soldiers. This was now a part of his world. He could really connect. With the same job, roach felt the same grief and pain as other soldiers, they knew the feeling of dying at any moment, and he saw the scarring horrors that everybody provided sympathy for, but didn't actually understand. They knew the nauseating feeling of holding a rifle, and using it to end a life for the very first time. They knew of the glimmering hope when everything felt so lost. These men – nothing more than young recruits in the beginning- knew of growing up too fast and of a lost childhood. Roach could now relate to all of this, so Roach remembered all of the men and women who gave their lives in other conflicts.

The gun salute then singled the end of the silence, the army cadets began to play The Rouse.

The platoons of men and women saluted again and began to parade down to the church. The taskforce 141 regiment was the last one to set off so they had to mark time as they waited for the cadet force, veterans and the other platoons to set off.

After the church ceremony, Taskforce 141 (disavowed) exited the church and marched their way to the truck ready to take them back to the base. On the way, Roach and Ghost were chatting about past events during the war, well Roach was, and Ghost just sat there looking into space. Ghost had never spoken at a parade before, he could never bring himself to do it, and he thought that it was better to just think about the fallen rather than talk about them. After the war ended he was really affected by it, more so than the others. Ghost didn't tell anyone about this, but even though he may have disliked some of his old team mates, he thought of them like brothers, brothers who had sacrificed their life so that other people can live peacefully, without war. He should have died ages ago, Ghost felt like it was his fault that his comrades are gone, dead even.

Once back at base, everyone was in a brooding mood. No one did anything. They sat in the rec room, silence reigned throughout the room, and everyone was there except Soap and Ghost. Just then Soap ran in looking panicked.

"Has anyone seen Ghost since we got back? I'm worried he's going to do something stupid and reckless." Soap said. There were murmurs around the room and no one seemed to know where Ghost was. Roach had a pretty good idea where he was. Roach presumed that Ghost was at the wall of the fallen, a wall where pictures of fallen comrades and their dog tags hung. Roach was right.

Sat on a chair directly in front of the wall, was the tall brooding form of Simon riley. At first roach thought that he was just sitting, staring at the wall, but upon a closer look, he burst into tears the moment he saw him. Thoughts screamed through Ghost's mind, causing him to lose concentration on keeping his inner demons quiet. Hell, he had never been concentrated. He'd just been numb, unable to feel. His fingers traced the scars of his body, working their way up to his face. He couldn't live like this anymore. How he'd coped for years on end he didn't know. Action s didn't show how he felt, he learnt how to fake a smile. He thought he was changing, but he was back like this, all of the losses had made him like this. The gun was curled up in his left hand, his finger on the trigger. Hand up to his head. Roach ran across the room.

"No!" he shouted, diving onto his knees next to ghost and trying to pull his arm away from his head. But he caused him to pull the trigger of the gun which sent blood pouring out. McTavish ran into the room to see the lifeless corpse of Simon Riley with a distraught Roach with ghosts head in his lap, sobbing loudly over his best friend, his brother. McTavish ran over to the two and attempted to pull roach away from the body.

One more picture hung on the wall, one more loss. A loss caused by War.


End file.
